The Wandering Eater

I went to SD26 last Friday with Helen and Seungmi in tow for Restaurant Week. Part of the allure was the fact that this is the reincarnation of the old San Domenico (think refined and genteel) that went downtown hip.

Top left, clockwise: Kitchen view, Salumi area, and Interior
Entering the restaurant from the windy, [...]

Last Tuesday, I’ve arranged dinner with my parents at The Modern Bar Room. First timers to eat there (and it’s Restaurant Week), I know the Modern would not disappoint me, as I’ve eaten here a few times throughout the years, Restaurant Week or not, and had good to very good experiences.
Crowded, sort of
Despite [...]

From top left, clockwise: The Breslin, Chef Bloomfield laughing, Interior & RW Menu
I’ve been holding back on going to The Breslin for quite a while. Part of me wanted to go in relatively blindly, as in earlier during the first week of opening, but I want a restaurant to work out their [...]

Renovations underway soon…
If you do follow the food blogs Eater or The Feedbag for the past few weeks, Cafe Boulud is going to be closed for renovations on August 16th. They’re hoping to open around September 21st, according to John Winterman, the maître d’ of Cafe Boulud. I thought I might as well have [...]

Taken place on July 23, 2009.
I’ve went to Tocqueville toward what’s supposedly the last few days of Restaurant Week. The thing to know is, Tocqueville has a year-round prix fixe for the same price. I went there just because it’s close to where a friend of mine works (I wanted to say “hi” to [...]

Taken place on July 28, 2009. Note to all of the NYC diners who want to participate RW, most are ending today, July 31st.

Menu and bread and butter
I’m at Bar Boulud again. It’s been a year or so since I’ve been here and think I might as well have a RW lunch because it’s [...]

To those of you who are really waiting on my Hong Kong/China vacation posts, please do be patient. I’m trying to post up the Restaurant Week stuff before it’s irrelevant to read (like the Gramercy Tavern post I did previously; they’re not participating RW now).
Last Thursday, I’ve arranged lunch with Mary to Alto for Restaurant [...]

Taken place on July 17, 2009.
In case you all didn’t know, New York City’s Restaurant Week (or “weeks” should be the correct nomenclature) started last week (July 12th). The somewhat strange thing with the Danny Meyer owned restaurants, namely Eleven Madison Park, Union Square Cafe, and Gramercy Tavern that they are doing their own version [...]

I made plans with Giulia several weeks ago to have lunch during Restaurant Week. I’m itching to try out new restaurants rather than my safe and dependable restaurants during this time of the year (e.g. Gramercy Tavern and Eleven Madison Park), so I proposed Matsugen. I heard generally good to very good reviews around the [...]

When I ate lunch during Restaurant Week last year at Eleven Madison Park, I was underwhelmed. But this year, it’s a significant improvement for the food.
Pretty…
As Giulia and I got seated in, I can’t help but be in a moment of awe how everything seems elegant and refined – the high ceilings, large windows, [...]